Joe Mixon is our Player of the Game after evolving into Bengals' centerpiece

While there are plenty of factors to point at when dissecting the Cincinnati Bengals dropping 24 second-half points to beat the Indianapolis Colts in Week 1, one overrides everything else.

Joe Mixon.

Mixon took command for the Bengals, at one point averaging north of seven yards per carry in the early goings and creating some hair-yanking frustration that the Bengals weren’t using him more.

Coaches turned him loose in the second half, resulting in finals of 17 carries for 95 yards (5.6) and one touchdown with five catches on seven targets for another 54 yards. Fellow running back Giovani Bernard only had one carry and only A.J. Green had more targets in the passing game. And it doesn’t stop there:

Joe Mixon played in over 78% of the Bengals offensive snaps. That is his highest percentage since being drafted by Cincinnati.

We saw flashes of this from Mixon a year ago, but rookie details in need of cleaning up and an offensive line that routinely saw him hit in the backfield muted the numbers.

But those who looked past the numbers saw it coming. The most common comparison fans will see on Twitter is Le’Veon Bell, and while it sounds like hyperbole, it isn’t far off. Mixon can do it all, which he put on display in Indianapolis.

That display cemented the offense as one featuring Mixon as its core element. Deep hits to guys like A.J. Green don’t happen without Mixon’s versatile skill set keeping the Colts honest.

Other than thinking about the long-term season outlook, the Bengals don’t have a reason to go away from this approach. But doing so would mean gutting what can work incredibly well, which goes against the whole needing-to-win-games thing.

Maybe the debate about Mixon’s standing among running backs throughout the league is silly right now. But he makes the Bengals tick in a way most of their recent past running backs can’t, which might just make him the most important player of the season.